Day 16: Just because it is, doesn’t mean it should be

Because a bunch of men who died thousands of years ago made up that rule.

They were powerful men.

This woman is more powerful than all of them combined.

So I say we change the rule.

I say my power should be our power.

Tomorrow Willow will use the essence of the scythe to change our destiny.

From now on every girl in the world who might be a slayer, will be a slayer.

Every girl who could have the power, will have the power.

Can stand up, will stand up.

Slayers. Every one of us.

Make your choice.

Are you ready to be strong?

Damn. I love this speech. Buffy gives a lot of speeches over 7 seasons, but this one always gives me chills. How can you deny the incredible the fuck-yeah-go-girl-power inherent in what she is saying?

And doesn’t that montage of girls and women finding the power and the courage to stand up make you want to stand up too?

But if we look at it more broadly, in a way that could apply to everyone, Buffy is also talking about change. She’s talking about telling the norm to go fuck itself and taking change into our own hands.

Sure, change is difficult and it can be scary as hell. To me the scarier scenario is things staying as they are; forever. I can empathize with the resistance to change. But I can’t stand by those who trudge through the same pain and troubles day after day. Doing so without the ability or the resolve to see that what they are doing isn’t working; it’s not living. Just because this is the way things are, doesn’t mean it is the ways things should be. Your life can be different; if you have the strength to see it, if you have the courage to change it.

So let me offer up an alternate version of this speech. One where Buffy sees the opportunity for everyone and where she shows us that we all have the power of choice; the power of change.

So here’s the part where you make a choice.

What if your world could be different? Now.

Every day we say the same words, we do the same things, we settle for the same life.

Because this is the way it’s always been and they say that’s the way it should be.

Who are they anyway?

You are stronger than you think.

So use that strength to change what should be.

Find the power inside to be accountable for the world outside.

Take the opportunity to envision a new destiny for yourself.

From now on, what you want to change in the world, you will find a way to change.

Every person who has the passion, the determination, will have the strength to create that change.